Comics A.M. | 'MoCCA is not dead'; Is Kickstarter No. 2 GN publisher?

Comics A.M. | 'MoCCA is not dead'; Is Kickstarter No. 2 GN publisher?

Museum of Comic & Cartoon Art

Organizations | Following the abrupt closing on Monday of the Museum of Comic & Cartoon Art's decade-old New York City location, President Ellen S. Abramowitz promises, 'MoCCA is not dead. Some reporters assumed we were going to a virtual gallery, but that is not the case. There will be a new physical space.' She tells The Comics Journal that the new space, expected to be announced at the end of the month, will be an improvement over the old one, which occupied 975 square feet on the fourth floor of a SoHo building. [TCJ.com]

Publishing | ICv2 provides more evidence of an increasingly robust direct market with the news that eight comics, driven by Marvel's Avengers vs. X-Men and DC's New 52, sold more than 100,000 copies in June, tying the number in November 2011. Those two months had the most titles over 100,000 since January 2008, when nine passed that milestone. In addition, three graphic novels sold more than 10,000 copies in June and and two sold more than 20,000. [ICv2]

Sullivan's Sluggers

Publishing | Todd Allen suggests that Kickstarter, the crowd-funding website, could now be the No. 2 publisher of graphic novels (between Marvel and DC Comics), in terms of net revenue. [Publishers Weekly]

Publishing | Hill & Wang has named Amanda Moon, a former senior editor of Scientific American/FSG, to succeed former publisher Thomas LeBrien as head of the company's graphic novel imprint. [Publishers Weekly]

Digital comics | The Lookouts, by the Penny Arcade team of Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, claimed the No. 3 spot on comiXology's list of top in-app purchase, impressive for a new comic ' although not surprising given its pedigree. [The Beat]

Creators | Kevin Huizenga discusses the Gloriana collection, the character Glenn Ganges and becoming a fulltime cartoonist: 'Two things that have changed since then are having my work published and quitting my day job. Careful what you wish for' It's tricky when your hobby becomes your job. I feel more pressure now, which has unfortunately slowed everything down and complicated my feelings toward what used to be a more pure pleasure, just playing around and making up stuff. It's all in my head, though. I really can't complain. As far as the work itself, of course I hope it's a lot better now, though I can see how I'm still fascinated by the subjects and styles that went into Gloriana.' [Publishers Weekly]

Mark Waid

Creators | Mark Waid talks about writing superhero comics, the difference between Marvel and DC, his experiences at CrossGen and BOOM! Studios, and what he's doing now with his digital comics site Thrillbent. [AV Club]

Creators | Michael Dooley talks to Stan Mack about transitioning from his long-running Real Life Funnies to his history of the American Revolution ' and why his book is still relevant almost 20 years after it was first published. [Salon]

Creators | Robert Venditti talks about his digital-first series The Surrogates: Case Files. 'I really wanted the series to have an episodic feel, similar to the one-hour cop drama. That's why we've made each of the issues a self-contained story (with the occasional two-parter). It's also why we decided to go digital-first. Single-issue, serialized comics aren't really Top Shelf's business model-graphic novels are more their stock and trade. So the digital format allows us to put these out as singles and let them stand on their own.' [ComicsAlliance]

Creators | Writer R.J. Ryan and artist David Marquez discuss their 3-D graphic novel The Joyners in 3D, and what makes it special; Ryan calls it 'a tough-minded and serious family drama,' and Marquez discusses the art: 'One of the touchstones going forward was this very clean, Jetsons, idyllic 1960s aesthetic. I've been trying to push my art on this book away from my more mainstream superhero work. First, to keep it in line with this optimistic, futurist design. And second, because it works better with the 3D. We put a lot of work into researching 3D comics, work by guys like Jack Kirby and Joe Kubert. The simpler you can make the line work, the cleaner the 3D.' [io9]

Creators | Colleen Coover breaks down the artistic process for her new Monkeybrain Comic Bandette. [Colleen Coover]

• July 11, 2012 @ 07:59 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin
• Tagged: Colleen Coover, comic retailers, comics a.m., comics industry, comiXology, creative process, David Marquez, digital comics, direct market, graphic novels, Hill & Wang, Jerry Holkins, Kevin Huizenga, kickstarter, mark waid, Mike Krahulik, MoCCA, R.J. Ryan, Robert Venditti, Stan Mack

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